First there were the abysmal comms from Andrew Bailey. Now I stumble across this:
(Two weeks late mind you. But I’m still going to write about it because it has rendered me a bit speechless.)
Allegedly the video is from the US 4th Psyop airborne division.
What I want to know is at what point did the military/spook people who we charge with defending the democracies of the West decide that celebrating deception and surveillance would be a viable comms strategy?
This is about as full on an admission as you can get that we are operating without any concept of what integrity is.
By all means I appreciate that in war we are sometimes forced to lie. But leaning into it with such glee is literally psychopathic. Nor does it do anything to rebuild trust in our own systems.
We are supposed to be better than the Russians. We are supposed to have better principles. We are not supposed to joyously emulate their worst traits.
And yes, I get that in a hybrid war we have to slowly lift the veil to the public that we have been engaged in high level deception and the manipulation of journalistic minds as well as those of social media users (unbeknown to them) — potentially for years. But do we have to be so happy about it? And so creepy?
If we are lying to domestic populations as part of military strategy, then coming clean about it is probably a good thing. But the way to manage this admission is with humility, respect and a begrudging attitude. “We don’t like doing this you know, but sometimes one has to make personal sacrifices for the greater good. This time, btw, that involves you having to give up on having a free information system or free press.” And “we promise we will never lie to you directly but opt as best we can to be merely accommodating with the truth, you know, in a cannot confirm or deny way.”
That at least would maintain the illusion we are still being principled.
Principles matter. Trust matters. Integrity matters.
Which is why that promo is an utter horror show. It signals we have abandoned all. The only hope we have now for a propaganda recovery is that Top Gun 2 can still come and rescue the day.
What is the promo even trying to say? And why is it emulating the Q Anon thing?
Let’s consider the evidence — something the actual propagandists will never do.
Let’s start with this creepy shot indicative of a world gripped by mass surveillance and the end of privacy. Is this supposed to be a good thing?
Then let’s consider this creepy ass calling card of a deranged spook. Is it supposed to frighten us? Or frighten the enemy?
What about this? Is it some sort of inside joke mocking those who like to push back against authority by deploying the “Clowns. In. America.” and clown world memes? Or is it a sinister threat to clowns?
And what about this? Is this a subtle reference to the fifth generation (5G) warfare theory about us all having been mindfucked to the point we don’t even know who the enemy is anymore? Or is it merely suggesting there are no front lines anymore?
And how about this? Is this a suggestion that we are already at war with China?
And finally what’s this? An admission that the deep state trope is real? Or merely that everything is and has been kayfabe for a long time now.
Self crediting as the ghost in the machine, meanwhile, also comes across as a little cocky. And not in a good propaganda Tom Cruise way.
Do you know what the best way of stopping inconvenient truths from getting out usually is? Burying them with related but unrelated noise.
Say you don’t want it to be commonly known that Clowns in America or 🤡 emojis are being used by the enemy to unmask potential online agents or government people?
Perhaps you manufacture a panic about actual clowns in America so that when you search for the term in Google you get hits like this:
The problem about this strategy is that it creates a tragedy of the commons in terms of noise and untruth pollution.
And the problem with lies (as a wise man recently told me) is that they, unlike the truth, can propagate exponentially — eventually crowding truth out of the system altogether, much the way Gresham’s law sees bad money crowd out the good.
This is about where we are now.
3 Responses
Perhaps they are advertising, could it be they are looking for the malkavian spirit rather than the traditional serious young men & women.
I am torn. One of the few pols I hold in high regard, is Tulsi Gabbard. In addition to being a decorated combat medic veteran, she comes across as a good person. She is also a Lt Col in the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command—United States Army Reserve. She’s stationed near the Googleplex at Moffett Field. On the other hand, perhaps she has a feed on The Blindspot server…
There’s nothing wrong with the unit existing. It’s with the promo. Tulsi I don’t think would approve of this. But who can say. Perhaps she’s only pretending to have integrity for psychological reasons 🤯